When do you like to teach? Are you a morning person? Do you like weekly seminars? Are you living the online asynchronous life? How much choice do you have in the matter?
In my 25 years of teaching, I've taught many different schedules. Back in the day as an adjunct it was a once a week 3-hour class after filing TPS reports in an iron cage. Not sure I have the stamina for that now. Once I became full-time I settled into customary M/W/F or T/TH offerings. For a long time, I'd teach a class, have a break, teach another class, and then one more. Or teach two classes, take a break, and have one more. I should note we used to be on 4/4 at the beginning of my career but for most of my career it's been a 3/3 which I still experience today.
The problem for me as an overthinker is that if I had a break in between classes I might think too much about how class went and overcorrect for the next session. My energy would also drop and I'd find it hard to get the energy back up for a class later in the day. I've always had colleagues who teach their classes consecutively, no breaks. Do it all and be done. I avoided that for years, thinking I'd get too tired by the third class. It turns out that's the schedule that works for me. For a few years in a row I've taught my classes consecutively, both the 55-minute M/W/F classes and the 80-minute T/TH classes. Not gonna lie, doing the 80-minute classes back to back to back is tough but I can do it and then do office hours before or after class. No schedule is perfect for it works for me. I'm a true morning person so I prefer to get classes started each semester at 9:00 a.m.
As I mentioned, I'm an overthinker, and teaching all my classes in a row prevents overthinking. There's no time to wallow in the mire, it might be said. I just keep swimming and do the best I can. Sometimes it leads me to be loose and free...okay, I think to myself with just a few minutes between classes, let's try something different with the next group. Don't rinse and repeat. I'm also more forgiving when I'm not having a great day. If I'm in a teaching sl*mp (a word I don't like to use in baseball or teaching) then it helps not to have time in between classes. Or to have too long in the day before classes begin (that's why I like to start early). I always strive to go 3 for 3 in terms of what I deem to be "good classes" but I've learned to be satisfied when I go 2 for 3. 1 for 3 is bad day, 0 for 3 is really bad day. But I try to process those bad days during my commute home and get back in the swing of things the next time through. I should also note that in any given semester I teach two sections of one course and one section of a different course.
What's your preference for when you teach and what do you find works for you?
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